Will an NFL team go undefeated this season?

Pro: Patriots have experience, motivation to run table

Stephan Savoia / AP
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) works a ball carrying drill with his receivers during Wednesday's practice in Foxborough, Mass. The 5-0 Patriots play the 5-0 Cowboys in Dallas today. The Colts at 5-0 are the only other unbeaten team this season.

Hold that champagne, Messrs Buoniconti, Csonka and Griese.

Your singular achievement is in danger of being duplicated.

Or trumped, really, since an unbeaten NFL season would now consist of 19 consecutive wins, rather than the 17-0 season the Miami Dolphins ripped off in 1972.

Three teams remain perfect through five weeks of this NFL season — the New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys and Indianapolis Colts.

Two are guaranteed to survive this week unblemished since the Patriots visit the Cowboys in today's marquee matchup and the Colts enjoy the weekend off.

Today's game in Dallas may determine which franchise gets to take a serious shot at history. Since the AFC East and NFC East are perhaps the NFL's weakest divisions and are pitted against each other on the schedule this year, the divisions' runaway leaders have an opportunity to run the table through nearly three quarters of their schedules — if they can make it through each other.

Since they have scored more than 30 points every game, the Patriots have been the team generating the first buzz about running the table.

The combination of Tom Brady, his new receiving corps and a revitalized defensive group give coach Bill Belichick a unique chance at the type of history he craves.

Beyond the Cowboys, a visit to Indianapolis on Nov. 4 and a trip to Baltimore Dec. 18 provide the biggest obstacles for the Patriots.

But the experience built by this seven-year era of success, the influx of talent in the offseason and the motivation culled from Spygate should keep those corks in Miami firmly in their bottles deep into the end of the calendar year.